Stars of Dawn: an SAO Story
by Lojky
Summary: You see, I wrote a response to a review a while ago, and I mentioned my backstory. Well, here it is. I'm deciding to change the format for dialogue. I hope you guys enjoy this. It pretty much has no normal SAO characters. Just a semi-depressing backstory explaining why Lojky is such a... Well, whatever he is!
1. Chapter 1

Today is the day. I've been sitting on my couch for hours and hours. Just waiting for the package. I've got a Nerve Gear, and played all of the other games. But an MMO? It's almost too good to be true!

I hear a knock on the door. "Delivery for a Mr… Lo-"

"Thank you! I'll take it!" I jump off the couch and slam open the door.

"Um, can you just sign he-" I slam the door on the man's face and lock it.

"WOO HOO! SWORD ART ONLINE!" I scream.

I call my three close friends.

"Hey, did any of you get SAO?" I holler into the phone.

"Jeez, dude, quiet down. Yeah I got it," my closest friend Kazumi replies.

"Well, it figures that you two got it and not us," another one of my close friends sulks. Their name is not relevant to this story.

"Ohh! You two already talked! So that's why Sienna isn't talking to us right now," I tease my friends. They've been dating for a year, but still never admit they like each other.

"Well, let's go then Loj. Wouldn't want to miss the opening ceremony!" Kazumi suggests.

"What about your username?" I ask her. She tells me, I hang up, put on the Nerve Gear, and say those amazing words to start up the game.

"Link, Start!" I yell. I make a username and password, my username being Lojky, so that Kazumi doesn't get confused. My password seems irrelevant, all things considered. The process to play was more tedious than one might think.

I make an avatar, and it may just be the coolest looking person ever. He has dark blue hair down to his waist, sharp facial features, and muscled arms. The only wimpy aspect was his height, which didn't fit the build. I had heard from beta-testers online that the closer you keep you height and weight to the real world, the easier it is to control.

Finally, I'm in the game.

"Hey. It took you long enough to get here," I hear a voice. I turn around, and I see a girl, about five foot seven with shoulder length silver hair. She looks almost just like she does in real life. I look at her username. _SilverRobin_.

"Hey Kazu- SilverRobin!" I look around.

"Come on Lojky. Let's go kill some stuff! It's a total adrenaline rush!" Robin acts as if she has already beat the game. Which is impossible. Beating an MMO would take forever.

"Okay… Um, where's the weapons?" I ask.

SilverRobin swipes her finger down. She taps a button, then another, and finally, a sword appears at her belt. "In the menu."

I stare at her. I try navigating the menu. To my surprise, there was no weapons anywhere.

"Hey, I don't have any weapons… Do you think you could show me?" I show her.

"Um, dude. We also can't log out. That's the bigger issue," Robin stabs me with her sword, but the system prevents her from harming me. "Hm, safezones. Noted."

We race out of town, excited to be finally in the game. We both get to about level seven, when we're three hours in, and suddenly are teleported to the Town of Beginnings.

『Players, I welcome you all to my world.』

"Hey, Loj. What is this?" Robin asks me.

"A tutorial maybe? I have no idea whatsoever," I dumbfoundedly state.

『My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world.』

"Seems about right. Well, at least an admin will take care of our problems, right?" I ask. Robin doesn't even notice me.

『I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the Log Out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Art Online's system.』

"That's a lie. I can tell he's lying. Right Robin? Robin!" I shout. She's staring off into space, and doesn't even seem to realize I'm here.

『Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will.』

"No… Why would you do this to your own-" Robin suddenly blurts

『...also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these things are attempted...』

A moment of silence.

The silence of ten thousand people was overwhelming. The next words came slowly.

『the signal sensors in your Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic functions.』

I stare at Robin. Robin stares at me. And in an instant, I realize something. Kayaba Kazumi. Robin is the creator's… Daughter?

『Some of you may have also found abnormalities with your abilities and skills. Don't worry. These anomalies are not glitches. Lack of weapons, armor, or basic skills may further develop into Unique Skills. What these are, I leave to you to find out.』

This is some odd stuff. I turn to Robin. She's gone...


	2. Chapter 2

Two thousand people. All dead. Gone. Deleted from this world and the real one. We need to beat this game! We haven't even cleared the first floor! All of those losers in the real world have probably just quit trying! I guess that's why we're meeting today.

SilverRobin and I have survived together for a month. The monsters left are very few, and we have very few people we can trust.

The meeting started, and Diavel, a blue haired player who had taken charge of the raids not controlled by the army, stood up and held up the all too familiar guidebook. There was a long conversation about what to expect, and that the boss room had finally been found, but Robin and I ignore it. We've been in a party for the last three weeks. We don't need any help forming teams.

"What's your name?" I hear. I look to the right. A little girl with two brown pigtails on the side of her head is actually asking me a question.

"Um, I'm Lojky. This is Robin," I tell her.

"What's yours. And if you want a party, go find some fat guy to flirt with. That'll get you a party real fast," Robin glares at the girl.

"Um… I'm Silica," I look at the kid. She was probably our age, twelve.

"Nice to meet you Silica! Welcome to the party," I send her an invite.

"Oh! Thank you!" Silica grins at me. Robin, however, gives me a look so pointed, I could swear I saw my HP drop.

"Lojky! I thought we were going to be a party on our own!" Robin shouts at me.

"I didn't know… I can leave the-" Silica looks down at her trembling hands.

"No. You both stay. Robin, I know you don't trust anyone else, but please! She's just alone! There's no harm in letting her join," I plead.

"Fine. After that, we hear no more from you. Got it? We're not a guild. Even if we were, you wouldn't join us!" Robin snaps.

"There's no more guild houses anyways. The first floor is almost completely occupied," I put in. "But if we do become a guild, Silica, feel free to join."

"Do you like her or something?!" Robin shouted at me.

"Oh my God! I just met her Robin!" I reply.

"I guess I'll just see you guys later at the raid," Silica runs off, and I turn back to Robin.

"I don't like her Kaz, I seriously just met her. I've known her for three minutes," I reassure my friend.

"I know. I don't want my only friend here to die because of some random kid though," she tells me.

"I would die for any person that needed me," I counter.

"If you died, I wouldn't know anyone. I'd just kill myself," Robin offered.

"You know Silica now. And Diavel would take you in!" I smile at my cleverness.

"Don't talk about Silica. It just ticks me off," Robin opens the menu and teleports home. I follow suit.

We both teleported to our small apartment in Horunka, the smallest town on the floor. Robin has already changed into slightly less threatening clothing, and is preparing our lunch when I arive.

"Rolls with cream. Take it or leave it," Robin sits down on the couch, leaving a roll and some cream on the counter. We're some of the few people that found something actually worth eating in this game.

"No pork or wolf?" I ask her.

"Not for lunch. We don't have much with the Army hunting every single monster in order to feed the homeless," Robin mutters. She's is turned away from me. I stare at the cream and the bread, and wish for the cream to be on the roll.

I blink, and sitting before me is a roll with cream on it. I use this method to put away the supplies and change into my casual clothing as well.

I sit down next to Robin. "You know, being here isn't too bad. I'm starting to enjoy it!"

Kazumi looks at me quizzically. "Why do you say that?"

"I get to be with my best friend, all day every day! We're also living in a cool virtual reality!" I laugh.

"Yeah, but we can die in this stupid game," Kazumi blushes turns away from me.

"We can die in the real life too."

Kazumi leans over on my shoulder, surprising me. "I'm glad it was you and me, not one of the other two."

I don't respond until I hear the _PLINK_ of a notification two minutes later. It's Silica, sending me a friend request.

"Should I-?"

"Do whatever you want. It's time to go!" SilverRobin teleports from the room. In an instant, I've started teleporting to the meeting area, changed my clothes, and accepted that request.

"Okay, now that you've all formed parties, we're going to take on the boss. Follow me through the labyrinth!" Diavel instructs us.

When we get to the boss room, the whole battle flies by. Silica, Robin, and I all charge straight to the boss, doing a fair amount of damage, and then letting other people take over. A boy with black hair and a girl with orange hair take Illfang down, but not without casualties being suffered.

Diavel. Kora. So many more. We fended off the Sentinels and Troopers, but that didn't help kill the boss. We move on to the second floor.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay guys! Listen up! We finally have enough money to start a guild! Are you in or out?" I ask my party of friends.

"I think we'll get way more loot that way!" Sarpedon, a girl I met in a bar on the fifth floor, offers.

"We know, idiot! That's what Loj is saying!" Elektra, a friend of Sarpedon and Rosalia's affirms.

"Okay! Let's do it!" Pina happily flies around Silica's head as she enters the conversation. The twelve people in the room all donate their Col to me, and I finally had enough money to make a guild.

"What should we call the guild?" I ask SilverRobin.

"Well, on this floor the stars are out until dawn, so it would be poetic if we called it-"

"Dawn Stars? No honey! We gotta be strong, something more like 'Titan's Hand.'" Rosalia suggests. The majority of the group agrees, excluding me, Silica, and Kazumi. I make the guild.

The process to invite everyone to the guild was tedious. Everyone accepted. Everyone except Kazumi.

Later, after we teleported to our home on the fifth floor from our guild house on the tenth, I ask her why she didn't join Titan's Hand.

"That's the name of a group that's going to cause trouble," Kazumi says, dead set against joining.

"But we'll have a family! Rosalia and the gang aren't too bad!" I protest.

"That's exactly what they'll become! A gang!" Kazumi yells at me. From the next room over, we hear Pina purring in her sleep, and the pitter patter of someone's feet.

"Can you two keep it down? Pina's trying to sleep…" Silica yawns.

"Okay. Sorry Silica," I pat her on the head. Kazumi glares at me.

"She's not younger than us. Stop acting like we're playing house! She's not your kid! She's as old as us you know!" she yells.

"God, if we were playing house, it would explain you two arguing like a married couple," Silica laughed.

"SHUT UP!" we both yell.

"And I kinda like the treatment! It's like he's flirting with me!" Silica skips off to her room and locks the door.

Kazumi and I crawl into our queen size mattresses. We have bunk beds and share the same room.

"Goodnight, baka…" Kazumi whispers from above me.

"Night Kazumi," I respond. I hope she changes her mind about joining the guild. I really like her, but I have Silica instead if she doesn't join the guild. I stew on this for hours.

The next morning, I wake up and throw some food in the oven. We stockpiled some wolf meat and have been eating it morning, noon, and night. Neither of the girls are up, I saw Kazumi in her bunk, and I can still hear Pina's sleep purring.

I sit back on the couch and wait for the food to cook. I pull out a newspaper and start reading. _Black Swordsman clears another floor. Denies all guild requests._ Figures. That Kirito guy seems strong, and I don't doubt he'll get a skill like my Battoujutsu.

"Morning!" Silica rubs her eyes and plops down on the couch right next to me, Pina curling up in my lap.

"How are you? Did you sleep well?" I ask Silica.

"Yeah. I slept just fine. You?"

"Pretty soundly. I passed straight out!" I lie.

Just then, the oven lets out a _DING!_ and I use my Battojutsu to plate and serve the food for myself. Then I realize that Silica is still watching me.

"What… What was that? That was so cool! Was that a special skill?" Silica stars at me with huge eyes.

"Um, what's to say it's not a glitch?" I suggest. She knows I'm lying.

"No. That was a special skill. How did you do that? What stat did you increase? How long did it take?" I throw the plate onto the ground, shattering it to a million red pieces.

"See, it was just a glitch!" I pull the plate out of the oven.

"Why are you lying to me? I'm not a stupid little kid!" Silica looks at me, her eyes tearing up. Her attitude changed like it was just a flip of a switch.

"I'm not! Believe me I have no idea-" Silica cuts me off.

"You're such a liar! I know you just picked it up! I've seen special skills! How could you lie to me? Do you even know how much I love-" Silica suddenly pulls out a teleport crystal, and mouths a word. She leaves, angrily crying.

I walk into my room. Kazumi is at the door. She stares at me. Then, she punches me in the face.


	4. Chapter 4

Silica went straight to the guild house. Rosalia and Elektra were making out on the couch when I got to the Titan's Hand base.

"Guys! Get up! Stop your making out!" Kazumi snaps.

"Why? You want a turn?" Elektra licks his lips. A glass flies off the counter and hits him in the head.

"Wha- what just happened?" Rosalia glares at a confused Kazumi. "Does the little girl with attitude have a unique skill?"

"I have no idea what just happened," Kazumi states plainly.

"It's Lojky," Silica enters our common area of the house, where the four of us are located.

"Our leader wouldn't retaliate against us making out. He wouldn't even stand up for that girlfriend of his," Rosalia laughs. Without opening my menu, a sword appears on my belt, and again, without moving a finger, I fling my cutlass across the room and stop it right in front of Rosalia's face.

"Guess the secret skill is out. I've been having a bad morning. Don't test me," I threaten.

"Oh! Would you mind skinning her dragon then? Because I want my cute boots!" Rosalia cackles.

"Lojky. The three of us should leave this guild…" Kazumi suggests, staring at Silica.

"I'm not leaving if Lojky leaves," Silica bluntly told us.

"You're going to be the leader than, Silica," I tell her, trying to get her to trust me.

"Okay."

I transfer the leadership to her. She immediately gives ownership to Rosalia. I leave the guild, and I don't turn back.

It wasn't until the seventeenth floor, five weeks later that I saw Titan's Hand again. They were an orange guild.

"Oh, look guys! It's special skill Lojky! Hahaha!" Rosalia stares at me. I look up at my health bar. I'm level 53, and my Battoujutsu will them on consious of their actions. They won't be able to touch me if they attack.

"What do you want Rosalia? Where's Silica? I need to talk to her," I look for Silica, but to don't see her.

"She's not here today. She went looking for you. She does that a lot you know…" Rosalia chuckles to herself. "She was so sad when 'her love' walked out on her."

My sword equips onto my belt. I take it out, using my actual hands.

"Me versus you. You tell me the truth if I win," I offer.

"If you lose, you have to… Maybe… Kill either Kazumi or Silica. Okay?" Rosalia maniacally smiles.

I agree, and the duel starts. I use my Battoujutsu to equip my kunai knives, and send fifteen towards Rosalia. I stand with my cutlass at my side, not even lifting a finger.

Rosalia's men (and girl) charge at me, and all of a sudden, it's five on one. I equip three more swords. I fight Rosalia with my knives, each of her men with one sword each, and actually fight against my old pal Sarpedon.

"You should've left Titan's hand with me! Do you remember where you were before we had met?" I ask Sarpedon as her HP falls to orange.

"I was a drunk… You did so much for me..." Sarpedon drops her sword. "I'm so sorry!"

"Good girl there Sarpedon! Cover me. Using Battoujutsu depletes my ability to focus, and I'm fighting four people. C'mon Sar!" I yell, unequipping one of my swords, causing Elektra to fall on his face. Sarpedon takes Elektra on, and now I can actually fight.

The two men I'm fighting are low level, somewhere around level thirty. I get them down to orange, while simultaneously throwing knives at Rosalia, and they run off to the forest. Elektra seems to have come around to my side as well.

I face Rosalia, Sarpedon and Elektra behind me. "Why? Did you plan this? And did you do something to Silica?" I ask her.

"Haha, the loli? No, buddy. She _wants_ to stay with us. You act like we're holding her captive!" Rosalia chuckles.

I turn around and face Sarpedon and Elektra. "Leave or don't. Know that you have a place with me and SilverRobin, should you leave Titan's Hand right now. You won't get another chance."

They both immediately leave the guild, and we leave Rosalia in the red zone HP-wise. I walk them to the main city of the floor, and we go home to Kazumi. That's when we decide to make the new guild.

"Stars of Dawn," Electra, Sarpedon, Kazumi and I all agree on the name of our guild. I send a request to Silica, just to see if she'll respond. She doesn't.

We give Sarpedon and Elektra our old room with the bunk beds, and Kazumi sleeps in Silica's old room. I sleep on the couch, which I don't mind. After all, looking out the window, you can see the stars, and you can see them until dawn.


	5. Chapter 5

It's been three months since we last saw Titan's hand. It's November thirty-first, 2023. Our guild has grown to ten people, me and Kazumi leading it. We're fighting on the front lines now, and this chapter of our story takes place when we are fighting the thirtieth floor boss, Lexina the Flame Queen.

"Are any of you burned?" Kazumi shouts.

"No currently, but Elektra…" Sarpedon looks down for an instant, and is almost immediately engulfed by flames. Lexida's special attack, Fire Hose... Her username fades from the party as the polygons erupt around us.

"Are you all okay? The KoB has arrived!" I hear the familiar voice of Heathcliff, another special skill holder. I keep using my Battoujutsu to restrain Lexida as my five remaining guild members attack her.

"We're fine! Get out of here!" Kazumi slices her katana across Lexida's chest.

"No! We'll never abandon you guys! You'll die!" The Flash, the guild's second in command, stabs the boss.

"You're in my way!" Kazumi teleports behind me, using her newly discovered skill.

"We're both Special Skill users Heathcliff! We don't need your help!" I yell. Another name disappears from my party. Our guild has four people including me and Kazumi now.

"Wait… Is that… Kazumi? Get out of here!" Heathcliff just said Kazumi's name. He should know her as SilverRobin. Kazumi turns around shocked.

"Did you just call me-" Fire Hose. I scream and run for Kazumi. Her health depletes more and more. Slowly.

"Teleport! Kaz! C'mere! Come on! Teleport!" I call.

The last words Kayaba Kazumi said were uttered right in front of me. "Dad? Is that you?"

She exploded into polygons. Millions of them. My cutlass drops from the air. Lexida's restrains pop off. The other members of my guild… Destroyed. The KoB charges, and the boss is gone within minutes.

"Lojky… I'm so sorry. Your entire guild… I can't imagine," I pull out a teleport crystal.

"Die Kayaba. You killed your own child," I say to Heathcliff.

I get home. It's not my home anymore. There's no one here. I sit in silence, for eight days I lie on my couch. Until one day, I hear a knock on my door.

"Lojky? Is that you? Are you there?" I hear the voice of someone I utterly hate.

"Go away Rosalia. Whatever you have to say, I'm not interested. Kazumi's dead. Elektra's dead. Sarpedon's dead," I tell her.

"Oh, that's alright! They're traitors to the cause!" I open the door with my Battoujutsu. I wave a kitchen knife in Rosalia's face.

"Lojky! Don't!" Silica is with her, a noose around her neck. I cut the rope with my knife.

"Why did you do that?" Rosalia angrily questions me.

"Go away Rosalia. Kazumi's dead," I say.

"I heard the from the newspaper. You actually weren't the only massacred guild," Silica throws me a newspaper, which I catch in midair.

 _Two small guilds destroyed. Rest in peace Moonlit Black Cats. Rest in peace Stars of Dawn._

And below that was a notice.

 _Two frontline players in these guilds have gone AWOL. If you know where Kirito or Lojky are, please contact the KoB._

"Oh. So you don't care about me, Silica, you want the money for finding us…" I realise.

"No Lojky! I want to leave the guild and join you!" Silica protests.

I draw four more knives from the kitchen using my telekinesis like ability. "Get out."

They leave, and I slam the door shut. The KoB come to my room, and I repeat this process with them. I pray for the other guy's sake that they don't find Kirito. He's even colder than me.


End file.
